This is particularly concerning to me because leftists are supposed to be able to bridge the gap between the (presumably) uneducated or ignorant working masses and the fairly esoteric intellectualism of leftist theory.
I have never been able to do that before, ever. I can understand all these Marxist concepts myself, about workers democratically owning MOP, about what socialism or barbarism means, about the purpose of the state, about anti imperialism, but if Im talking to someone who’s totally apolitical or even just a woke liberal I have no idea where to begin bridging the gap and radicalizing.
Im sure a large part about getting regular people on your side relies on community building and mutual aid projects that demonstrates to average people that an alternative is possible and that the party is better at working with and meeting the needs of the people than the state/market is.
But lets say your just talking casually to your average non-redpilled friends. Im not trying to sound edgy but whenever the conversation switches to something inane, superficial, or material (particularly when it comes to consuming something or engaging in consumerism, which dont get me wrong I enjoy partaking in all the time) I just feel like cutting my head off. The world is fucking dying and burning all around us, we’re already past several “points of no return”, injustices are being perpetrated at all times everywhere, and the most important thing we find to talk about is some material shit that doesnt even matter?
At the same time though, thats what makes normies the normies they are, and I cant help but feel envious of their carefreeness. And its up to us to introduce them concepts within leftist theory. So how do you do that?
Address what's directly in front of people. That's the only thing that will get across to most: direct material interest. The most common thing you'll find among 'normal' people is they absolutely hate their boss and they wish they could have more money. Start there. Every single self-alleged conservative/liberal I've worked will start to sound like a Wobbly if you poke them with "Should we make more money?" "Should we have more vacation hours?" "Does management really know how to do our jobs?" "Is our insurance secure?"
Although this has been my experience talking to blue collar industrial and retail workers. This is probably vastly different from talking to people who work in education, finance, programming, or whatever.
Also, most people already have their minds made up in regards to anything wider than their own lives. All political expression that goes beyond their direct interests is entertainment and spectacle, so we're simply at a stage where we have to bypass that if we ever want to make headway. The average person is never going to care about theory or leftist history unless they are convinced they need it. And guess what? They feel they don't need it.
No one you're going to talk to is going to have enough influence over climate change to do anything about it. It's not like if you argue leftist points to enough people we can all pull a giant "no more carbon emissions" lever. Don't get worked up over that. You're one person and the world doesn't rest on your shoulders. Focus on what you can actually do and what the situation affords you. Average people are convinced that everything turns out fine in the end, no matter what it is.